Codgers’ Corner

Listen, friend, you and I both know that the IBM Selectric II is the pinnacle of technology, and that the Beatles are still playing on Casey Kasem’s Top 40. But these wet-behind-the-ears kids today are playing around with all kinds of gee-whiz gizmos that are nothing but glorified toys anyhow. Which is why we never bothered to figure out how to waste time using them in the first place. But that’s annoying because they look as us like we are some kind of walnut-brained dinosaurs tottering toward the grave with a distinct air not only of superiority, which would be bad enough, but of downright pity. Now, that’s intolerable!

We built the world they live in, and danged if I’m going to be left wondering what’s going on every time they whip out one of those new-fangled gadgets or rattle off some techno babble gibberish. So what do you say we dig in and get a leg up on theses whipper snappers, prove to ’em that us old codgers aren’t a bunch of ossified has-beens and show ’em, by golly! what’s what? Below are some videos that explain some of the current technology making the rounds, how to use it and how to lay hands on it yourself.

Heh! Won’t they be surprised?

Email

The first thing you’ll need is an email address. If you already have one, skip this, unless you want another. The video suggests using Google Gmail, which is just fine, but there are others free email services including but not limited to hotmail.com, yahoo.com, gmx.com and so on. You will need an email address to be able to access any of the rest of this stuff.

Did I mention that you will need some kind of computer (I-phones are just small computers, y’know.) with an internet connection?

Facebook

Next, let’s talk about Facebook. This is different than the one down at the police station. Just click on the link to go to the video.